X-ray Diffraction on High-Temperature Liquids: Evolution Towards Time-Resolved Studies

The use of containerless techniques enables studies of materials above the melting point and in the supercooled state with a high degree of control. In particular, the atomic structure of liquid materials can be determined by measurements of the X-ray structure factor S(Q) and calculation of the corresponding pair correlation function g(r). At high temperature, it is useful to reduce the acquisition times in order to avoid sample deterioration or instabilities. To do that, different solutions can be used: use of a conventional detector at a third generation source, which provides iIntense X-ray beams leading to reduced acquisition times, use of image-plate scanners which enable short counting times with good statistics, and use of a wide-angle position-sensitive detector which is better for time-resolved studies. We show that these three approaches are complementary for studies at high temperatures.